The September 19, 2013 article “Pope Francis: Church cannot be 'obsessed' with gays, other bans” on The Chicago Tribune’s Web site notes:

In a remarkable change from his predecessor Benedict, who said homosexuality was an intrinsic disorder, Francis said that when homosexuals told him they were always condemned by the Church and felt "socially wounded", he told them "the Church does not want to do this".

Contrary to what a typical reader might conclude, Pope Benedict wasn’t expressing a personal opinion on homosexuality. What he said comes directly from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

Pope Benedict was considered too conservative by many. In contrast, his successor is in some quarters now hailed as a “progressive,” considered a compliment by the mainstream media. How they’ll receive today’s Associated Press report “Pope Keeps Cleric Who Leads Nun Crackdown in Job” should be interesting.

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